Second Seneca Summit, A Leadership Skills Development and Networking Event for Women Trad Climbers, April 15-17, 2011

We did it! We actually pulled of the 2^nd Seneca Summit. And the turnout was as good as for the First Seneca Summit. Over 20 women from WV, PA, VA, MD, and the Washington DC area came in spite of a weather forecast that called for 100% rain on Saturday. While the organizers went with the flow, or should I say flood, to provide an expanded lecture program under a rain-laden tent, the clinics-turned-talks became valuable learning experiences thanks to the active participation of the interesting and knowledgeable women present.

The goal of Seneca Summit is to develop the leadership skills of women trad climbers, and to serve as a networking event for women who lead, or want to begin to lead traditional rock climbs.

Seneca Summit is the brain child of Diane Kearns, mountaineer, rock climber and co-owner of “The Gendarme” and “Seneca Rocks Climbing School.” After being the lead organizer of the inaugural Seneca Summit, she hoped we could keep the event going and get different women to take over the organization in future years. And so it happened that Colleen Louw became the driving force behind the 2^nd Seneca Summit. She was helped by Jeanette Helfrich, who, like Colleen, is a member of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, and by Diane and myself.

All Friday I was wondering if anyone but us organizers would show up for the event. I mean when do the weather people ever commit to a 100% chance of anything? And for Saturday the 16^th of April 2011 they promised rain, thunderstorm, lightning, and gale-force winds.

Friday evening Judith Scanlon and I rolled into group campsite D and were excited to see a bunch of tents up. A group of women was sitting around a picnic table talking about climbing with a couple of climbing books out. While we were introducing ourselves, car after car pulled in! Colleen told every new arrival that the campground manager had put out extra stakes in front of his camper for people to borrow, in anticipation of a stormy night. And a stormy and rainy night it was, indeed. One tent fly took off and flew into a tree!

Saturday morning the group assembled for a free breakfast in front of The Gendarme under the cover of their gazebo tent. While the 1^st Seneca Summit had been free of charge, this time we asked for a registration fee of $25, and encouraged the participants to pay up inside of the store at some point during the weekend. Also for the first time, there was a reporter present. She was doing stories about girlfriend weekends in WV, and we were going to be featured in the series.

After Colleen took us through a round of introductions, we went straight to the main event, our guest speaker Jessa Goebel. Jessa owns her own company, “ClimbFit;” and she was going to improvise a lecture on training under the tent rather than the training clinic she was originally going to teach on real rock. The audience was captivated. Everyone shared their goals and aspirations for the 2011 climbing season, and from this, Jessa collected the topics on which she focused her discussion. After about an hour and a half, we took a brief break; then we returned for a second session. Jessa gave many general as well as very specific tips, in response to questions from the audience. I am sure that many of us will find her tips and insights helpful once we adapt them to and integrate them into our personal gym climbing routines. They are designed to help us improve our endurance, power endurance, and power.

After the lunch break, I was back in the program with a physics presentation. This time I spoke about “The Physics of Falling.” I had brought a flip chart with a bunch of notes and drawings. Owing to the humidity it had become slightly damp and heavy, yet still the wind tried to carry it away! Judith kindly assisted me by holding the poster board in place and flipping the charts. When I started talking I had to really speak up to be heard over the sounds of the rain pounding on the tent! We went though force, work, energy, momentum, and impulse, and how they act when climbers fall off a cliff or mountain. We then discussed what conclusions can be derived for surviving falls from the physics concepts. As part of my presentation I read the first chapter, “A Perfect Fall,” from Lynn Hill’s book “Climbing Free.” She vividly describes the circumstances of her fall and that jibed well with several of the physics points I was trying to drive home. I was kind of nervous since I don’t usually do readings and English is not my first language. I think it went well though; the audience applauded when I was finished.

Next up was Diane, who improvised giving her clinic on building gear anchors using a barbeque grill. The grill actually lend itself quite well to taking chocks and hexes. During Diane’s presentation, thunder and lightning arrived and it also began to pour in earnest. Thankfully, The Gendarmes let us move some of their displays to provide shelter for all of us in the store. And Diane resumed her lecture inside, with Linda Blakeley assisting.

After such a full day of listening to presentations and discussing details of personal goals, climbing training, falling physics, and anchor building, some of the group became noticeably exhausted in the late afternoon. We took a break for drinks and started cooking dinner.

The potluck dinner, held outside under the tent, was once again a highlight of the gathering! Good food and good conversation is simply the best way to spend a rainy evening. This time there was even a tablecloth on the table that became the designated buffet. Vivid discussion continued with the day’s presenters, and in groups that spontaneously formed and reformed.

After dinner, we returned to the inside of The Gendarme for a slideshow about the climbing history of female climbers by Jeanette Helfrich. Of course, Jan Conn, who, with husband Herb Conn, was one of the climbing pioneers of Seneca Rocks, featured prominently in the presentation. In the spirit of continuing to write our climbing history, Jeanette also included pictures from the 1^st Seneca Summit. Also, to prepare a site off of forest service lands where Seneca Rocks Climbing School would have held clinics had the weather cooperated, Diane, Colleen, Jeanette, and I had spent March 19 cleaning up a privately owned cliff on the site of the Harman’s North Fork Cottages. Jeanette's show had photo documentation of that outing as well. Maybe we even did some first ascents there! Jeanette also showed many pictures of the female members of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club and the Explorers Club of Pittsburgh climbing at Seneca Rocks, in the US, and around the world.

The party broke up after Diane arranged the climbing teams for Sunday. The weather forecast promised climbing weather, that is, no rain, hurray! However, we had to brace ourselves for wind with gusts up to 45 mph.

Sunday morning started with breakfast in front of The Gendarme. Due to the rainstorm of the previous day, which resulted in quite some flooding that included the low bridge over the North Fork, downtown Seneca Rocks, some of our tents, and because of the howling wind, some participants decided to depart and made their farewells.

Then the climbing teams headed out. My group went to the East Face, expecting sunshine and less wind. But we had some change of plans en route to Worrell’s Thicket, the intended climb for Erin, our new leader. Alas there was a waterfall at the bottom of the route, and a group of six occupied its start. A climber on the stairs told us a class was in progress. There were already teams on Skyline as well. And more parties were ahead of us and behind us on the trail. Also people with backpacks, hikers or climbers, were hanging out in the woods. In short, there was quite the crowd! And the wind was much stronger than we expected.

Erin and another member of our team split to pursue a different climb. Judith and I reconsidered what to do, and we felt given the situation, it might be preferable to join Diane's and Harini Ayer's groups who had gone to the Lower Slabs. We headed over there and met Colleen’s team who was just hiking up themselves. Surprisingly, there was much less wind on the West Face. We came up to the Lower Slabs just as Harini was leading Scuttle, 5.7. You go, Harini! Another team had set up a toprope on Discrepancy, a Seneca ultra classic 5.8. Diane walked along the slabs with us to help us find other climbs. I decided that I would give R2D2, a 5.5, a go. While be were climbing our first set of routes, Diane would head back down to The Gendarme because we needed more ropes to set up climbs.

I quite liked R2D2. It had trees and bushes en route, my kind of thing. It is reasonably long and varied and tops out not too far from the tree atop Scuttle, which I used as my anchor. But there was no good way to set this climb up as a toprope, at least that I could see. When I used the radio to call down to Judith – it was so windy that without radios we could not communicate – Judith told me that the others had left to assist in the rescue of a climber who had taken a fall on the East Face. I am so glad she waited telling me until after I finished leading.

What a scare! Memories of Amy’s death on the East Face rushed back into my mind. And then I heard the sirens, and saw the ambulance taking off to Petersburg. Next a yellow fire truck pulled into the parking area below the Discovery Center, sirens howling. What was that all about? I was unnerved, and so was Judith. Still, she found the inner strength to second the route and came up to me with the gear. Some kind fate had directed us away from climbing on the East Face that day, yet our friends were over there, and we did not know who had fallen, and how bad the fallen climber, whoever she or he might be, was injured. We were both quite shaken.

We walked off the cliff on the ramp near Scuttle. Unprepared to get on a rope again soon, we opted for lunch break. Then Judith started to build anchors for practice, and two other women who had remained at the Slabs joined us. We tried out and discussed some of the techniques we had learned from Diane the day before.

Finally, Diane returned, and gave us news of the accident. The team was climbing Wolery, 5.6, PG, on the North Peak. The leader’s first and only piece, a #1 cam placed about 20 ft up, blew, and he decked. Although he seemed fine, because he had fallen on his back, his team mates did not want to move him. After enough climbers arrived, they were able to carry the injured climber up to the summit in a litter. He was then transported off the North Peak using a four wheeler which the local rescue squad had brought in on the horse trail, and put in the waiting ambulance. Diane was looking quite exhausted as she came down from the adrenaline rush of the rescue. A few days later we learned the good news that the climber was doing well and had not broken his back.

Judith and I resumed climbing, but on toprope, only. The afternoon was sunny and had finally warmed up in spite of the high wind. But gravity was high as our hearts were heavy.

All teams returned safely to The Gendarme in the late afternoon; and we got a chance to say our good-byes to our many new friends before we headed home.

Reflections, thoughts, and food for thought:

The turnout was great in spite of the storm! There seems to be a real need for Seneca Summits, and we should feel encouraged to continue.

The $25 registration fee was OK with the participants.

PATC and ECP each sponsored the event with a $100 contribution to defer expenses. If any money is left after paying for expenses, as it seems there might be, it will go toward the next Seneca Summit.

The gazebo tent saved the day, although it had a hard time staying up with this amount of rain and wind. Is there another location we can use in heavy rain? The Discovery Center? Or a better outdoor location that is bigger than the cave?

We might consider renting a portapotty for future events. With the flooding in town, there were some sewer problems…

Once again, I wonder how many new leaders actually took the sharp end during the Seneca Summit, or did start leading after the event. New leaders – your feedback?

Who was there who also was at the 2010 event; and did you find yourself leading more last fall?

There was a sense that August was a better time than April to hold the event.

The weekend was definitely a success on the networking front!

Let’s hope there will be a 3^rd Seneca Summit in 2012!